What the Bible says about Wealth, Lesson 2

watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOvhaQ_FbTo

What the Bible says about

Wealth,

Text: Proverbs 27:23-27 “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. 24 For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? 25 The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. 26 The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. 27 And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.”

Intro: In this lesson, we are going to look at wealth under the eye of the Law, what was required of the Hebrew people according to the law. And this can be quite extensive, so I want to narrow our focus on three ideas under the law:

• First, The origins and provider of wealth, (this is a lot of what we have looked at, however this time, it is under the Law that we are paying special attention to.)

• Second, the giving, or tithing, the literal word means a tenth, but there is more under the law to take into consideration.

• Third, the responsibility of the Wealthy, is tithing the end of the obligation, or does the law take it further?

Again, I am wanting to look into the Law of God in order to give us the proper prospective.

One of the first things we need to do is determine what I mean by “The Law”

• there are a number of ways to determine what is the “Law”

  • Some see the Law as the entirety of the Old Testament, utilizing it’s direct commands, as well as the lessons from the individual stories involved.

    • In other words, we can see a clear picture of the law of reaping and sowing in the life of Jacob, both good and bad, however he is found in the book of Genesis.

    • We can also see the Law in the book of Malachi, in the duties of the sacrifices for the Nation.

  • Then there is a more refined standard,

    • much like the first, utilizing both examples of life, and the direct commands of God, it is limited to the first 5 books of the bible. The books of Moses,

      • beyond that we have the books of History, wisdom, and Prophets, which are not considered “Law”

  • Reducing it even further, there are 613 direct commandments of God given in the Levitical Law,

    • these are the rules and regulations given by God to direct the life, not the stories, and illustrations of life, but the 613 rules.

  • To reduce it even further, the 10 commandments, although, there are very few would fall into this category,

    • mostly people who would say they are not religious, but spiritual..

As far as our use of the Law in this study, we are going to fall in the middle somewhere, focusing primarily on the books of Moses, but also where ever there is a direct commandment of God given to mankind, and the nation of Israel. This excludes such commands as when read in context, is for a particular situation, or to a particular person, such as Noah building an Ark, or Abraham leaving Ur. Those were commandments to the individuals. OK, now let’s look into the Law.